A Rumor of Angels (2000)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by James Eric, Jamie Horton and Peter O'Fallon, based on the book Thy Son Liveth by Grace Duffie Boylan
Directed by Peter O'Fallon

Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Ray Liotta, Catherine McCormick, James Morgan, Ron Livingston
Features:

• Trailers for A Rumor of Angels and Heartbreakers
  

James Neubauer (Morgan) has been though a lot in his young life. He lost his mother at a young age in a car accident. His father, Nathan (Liotta) has already put his life back together. He has remarried to Mary (McCormick). Mary and James have a difficult relationship at best, and James has started to get to the age where he is acting out against both of his parents. The only adult in his life that he has any sort of connection with him is his mother's brother, Uncle Charlie (Livingston)…that is, until he meets Maddy Bennett (Redgrave). Maddy lost her son in Vietnam in 1974, and based on that connection, they form a relationship that no one else in the town can understand…especially not Nathan and Mary.

Unfortunately, this movie has one really weak spot: Trevor Morgan. Early on in the movie, he really gives you nothing to care about in his character. You know that he has lost his mother, but he is such a brat that you just want to smack him. Fortunately, that's exactly what Redgrave's Bennett does. So, instantly we like her. Her character is a self-described "old English bitch," but you can really tell that she cares about James. McCormick and Liotta, I'm sorry to say, really come out looking horrible in this film. I blame it as much on the writing and editing as I do the acting. The person who comes out smelling like a rose in this film is Ron Livingston. His Uncle Charlie is charismatic and oddly charming, but his seems to be the only character, other than Redgrave's, that has any depth.

There are other problems with this movie, however--like a scene where James blows up at his father for not being around enough (and he isn't…he spends most of the movie either leaving or getting back from out of town), but it comes out of nowhere. It is also at this point where the soundtrack for the film starts getting in the way. Some of the choices of background and scene-change music are really quite horrendous and have nothing to do with the mood of the scene being presented. Then there are other script problems like a short scene that is entirely in Morse Code…ah, don't ask. And, just when you think the film is over (you know those clues you get like a major conflict seeming to be resolved), it keeps right on going (and gets you back into another conflict that you thought was already resolved). It's a predictable and often-told story. It's just that this time, it has no cohesion.

The DVD is not any better. There are only two items listed under the special features menu and they are trailers. One is the trailer for this film and the other is for the DVD of Heartbreakers. The only similarity I can see between these two movies is that they both have Ray Liotta in them. They are not even close to being in the same genre, so why put that trailer on this disc instead of something more substantial, like a director's commentary or something? Even a cheesy, poorly done behind-the-scenes featurette would have made more sense at least. Alas…

I can't even recommend this DVD as a rental. There is nothing redeeming in the performances and the script jumps around way too much to have any real impact. I would like to recommend it just to see Livingston, but I have to say just catch him in his next flick. Hopefully, we will see him again.